The other day I was advising Blaise Cosme who is fairly new to DSLRphotography how it is important to not keep...

The other day I was advising Blaise Cosme who is fairly new to DSLR photography how it is important to not keep your camera body open for long when changing lenses and to keep the body opening pointing downwards. Why? Because dust settles on the sensor and forms sensor spots. These spots interfere with your image making. Of course they are trivial to remove in Lightroom and other editors but that takes time.

If they're not removed in a reasonable time they can become welded there next time the camera is damp. It is possible to clean your own sensor but it really is a pain in the arse and I recommend getting a professional clean done. Cameras often have gimmicks that try and keep the sensor clean such as vibrating it but they really don't help much if at all.

I talk about this more and a good field cleaning product from Dust-Aid on my blog. There are links there to how to manually clean your sensor and on the merits of professional cleaning.